Time to take a deep breath. First, though, the good news: There's no sex, drugs, or rock and roll in Franny and Zooey. And now for the bad news: Kids may find this book boring.

One of the challenges that we can see out of the gate is how to relate to such self-indulgent people. Franny often feels peevish. Zooey doesn't want to get married because he likes the window seats on trains too much. And Bessie visits her son while he's taking a bath. These folks are a little odd and a lot smart, more like the precursors to Wes Anderson's Tenenbaum family than anyone your students actually know.